Eclipse embraces Java microservices initiative

MicroProfile, which provides a technology blueprint to outfit enterprise Java for microservices deployments, has become an Eclipse Foundation project.

Now known as Eclipse MicroProfile, the effort makes it easier for developers to use Java technologies and APIs to build microservices. “The goal of the project is to create a community to add new features and capabilities to Java EE that address microservices architectures,” said Ian Skerrett, Eclipse vice president of marketing. “At some point the work could end up in the official Java EE standard via a Java JSR (Java Specification Request), but there is nothing concrete at this time.” A MicroProfile representative in September had predicted Eclipse jurisdiction for the project.

MicroProfile arose earlier this year after Java proponents became frustrated with a lack of progress in the development of Java Enterprise Edition under Oracle’s stewardship. Version 1.0 was released in September. Along with participants like IBM and Red Hat, Microprofile intended to start improving enterprise Java sans Oracle. But Oracle in September laid out a plan to jumpstart enterprise Java for cloud and microservices environments, with two major releases, Java EE 8 and 9, now planned.

An Oracle official who has led rejuvenated Java EE efforts held out an olive branch Monday to Microprofile. “The Microprofile efforts are complementary to what the Java Community Process is doing with Java EE and we look forward to them contributing to that process going forward,” said Anil Gaur, Oracle group vice president of engineering.

The first release of MicroProfile was based on JAX-RS (Java API for RESTful Services) 2.0, CDI (Contexts and Dependency Injection) 1.2 and JSON-P (JSON with Padding) 1.0. The community around MicroProfile is having discussions on process and microservices APIs covering functions like application configuration, monitoring, health check, messaging, and circuit breakers. Another release of MicroProfile is planned, which may include technologies like JCache and WebSockets.